1 week Ago By Lydia Spencer-Elliott
Trisha Goddard has opened up about her decision to enter the Celebrity Big Brother house after being diagnosed with terminal breast cancer. The TV presenter, 67, who hosted the daytime ITV show Trisha from 1998 to 2004, revealed in February last year that the cancer she’d been diagnosed with in 2008 had returned after she was given the all-clear. Goddard initially kept her diagnosis a secret from her colleagues and the public , admitting she was “grappling with how to deal with” the news.
Entering the Celebrity Big Brother house on Monday (7 April), Goddard said she wanted to use the show as an opportunity to demonstrate to terminal patients that they should “not be scared of living”. She said: “Well, I've been asked to do it every single year, and I've always thought, 'Are you kidding me?'. “Being on Big Brother would show people how you can live successfully with cancer and not be so scared of dying that you become scared of living.
So that's why I'm doing it.” Goddard continued: “You talk to people and you say you have stage four metastatic cancer. But there's stage four and there's stage four.
You can have a few cells and you're stage four. You can have cancer in your brain, your heart, you know, God forbid, and you're stage four. “So people hear metastatic and they don't think about the fact that there are people with metastatic breast cancer being treated by my oncologist who have been around for twenty years.
So it's a huge thing. “But people hear metastatic and it's terminal, which isn't used in the medical world, it's life limiting.” “You're written off and there's just pity towards you.
Anyone going through it, and the Princess of Wales said it perfectly, you're living with uncertainty, but all you get is pity,” Goddard said. “I can categorically tell you there are lots of people in lots of industries who are living with cancer who've never said a word for that reason. “I was doing something the other day and a person revealed to me that they were about to go and get their treatment plan, they were whispering and said, ‘I can't let anybody else know about this because I might lose my job.
’ That's so wrong.” The presenter added: “There's the other thing where people find out and they tell you about their mother who went through it and went through hell, they'll tell you the horror stories. “And you're telling me this, why? Or I get the pity head nod, or they talk about me and my 'battle', how I'm 'fighting this'.
“That pi**** me off. It pi**** 90 per cent of us off because we're not battling or fighting. We're sitting on the end of a drip or something, you know, ‘be strong’ or 'don't give in’.
” The TV presenter and the Celebrity Big Brother team have timed her stay in the house with precision so she can complete her treatment plan without disruption. Fans were quick to praise Goddard for her decision: “Trisha Goddard. The icon that you are,” one person wrote on X/Twitter, with many further users calling the TV star a “legend” and “queen”.
Meanwhile, another supporter added: “I love her and glad she’s championing living life even if she has got stage 4 breast cancer. “ Goddard will be cohabiting in the Celebrity Big Brother House with Hollywood actor Mickey Rourke , EastEnders star Patsy Palmer and former Tory MP Sir Michael Fabricant. The new edition of the spin-off Big Brother with famous faces will also include retired Olympic athlete Daley Thompson, The Only Way Is Essex star Ella Rae Wise, TV presenter Angellica Bell, and RuPaul’s Drag Race UK series four winner Danny Beard.
You can read the full Celebrity Big Brother contestant lineup here . Celebrity Big Brother airs nightly at 9pm on ITV1 and STV. A spin-off show called Celebrity Big Brother: Late & Live will follow on ITV2, which will see the return of last year’s winner, reality star David Potts.
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